Abstract

The authors compared the sleep laboratory recordings of 122 drug-free subjects who complained of chronic insomnia with the subjects' estimates of their habitual sleep characteristics and their estimated sleep time on the morning after sleeping in the laboratory. Most subjects consistently underestimated the amount of time they slept and overestimated the amount of time it took them to get to sleep in comparison with laboratory data. All subjects consistently underestimated the number of arousals they experienced. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for the treatment and definition of insomnia and for further research.